Royal Bay is a bay, wide and indenting , entered between

Cape Charlotte Cape Charlotte (located at ) is a cape that forms the southeast side of the entrance to Royal Bay on the north coast near the eastern end of South Georgia in the Atlantic Ocean. It was discovered in 1775 by a British expedition under Captain Ja ...

and

Cape Harcourt Cape Harcourt () is a headland on the eastern extremity of Harcourt Island on the north coast of South Georgia, forming the north side of the entrance to Royal Bay Royal Bay is a bay, wide and indenting , entered between Cape Charlotte a ...

along the north coast of South Georgia. Like other parts of the archipelago, many birds breed here, including

king penguin The king penguin (''Aptenodytes patagonicus'') is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. There are two subspecies: ''A. p. patagonicus'' and ''A. p. halli''; ''patagonicus'' i ...

gentoo penguin The gentoo penguin ( ) (''Pygoscelis papua'') is a penguin species (or possibly a species complex) in the genus ''Pygoscelis'', most closely related to the Adélie penguin (''P. adeliae'') and the chinstrap penguin (''P. antarcticus''). The ear ...

s, and

blue-eyed cormorant The imperial shag or imperial cormorant (''Leucocarbo atriceps'') is a black and white cormorant native to southern South America, primarily in rocky coastal regions, but locally also at large inland lakes. Some taxonomic authorities, including ...

History

Royal Bay was discovered and named by a British expedition under

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

in 1775. In 1882 a German group of the

International Polar Year Investigations The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred ...

expedition under Schrader was sent out to observe the

transit of Venus frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a trans ...

was stationed at Royal Bay. They were based on the north shore of the bay in 1882–83. The group came in on the steam corvette which was the first powered vessel to reach South Georgia. Moltke Harbour, a one-mile wide bay on the northwest side of Royal Bay is named after it.USGS GNIS: Moltke Harbour
/ref>

References

* Stonehouse, B (ed.) ''Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans'' (2002, ) Bays of South Georgia {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub

History

See also

References